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"Because without BGG I couldn't ever become a boardgame designer. "
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Vital Lacerda (newrev)

As some of you may know Days Of Wonder went "exclusive" with Alliance Games, meaning you can't get Days Of Wonder games through any other distributor if you are a store. Playroom Entertainment has just announced it will go EXCLUSIVE with ACD in the USA.

Playroom has a lot of games and is most well known for the Killer Bunnies franchise.

Playroom Goes Exclusive With ACD

To Streamline Distribution to the Hobby

Playroom Entertainment has announced an agreement with ACD Distribution that will allow ACD to handle exclusive distribution of Playroom brand game titles to the hobby game market. For Playroom the agreement with ACD strengthens the company’s commitment to retailers as its product lines and game titles continue to expand. This year Playroom has announced the release of more titles and expansion games than it ever has in company history.

Playroom’s Dan Rowen explained to ICv2: “This new agreement with ACD is really going to bolster our relationships with our retailers, particularly in the hobby game market. We are very excited that this will greatly improve our direct interaction and communication with all of our customers, which is a vital mission at Playroom.”

“This new agreement with ACD is really going to bolster our relationships with our retailers, particularly in the hobby game market. We are very excited that this will greatly improve our direct interaction and communication with all of our customers, which is a vital mission at Playroom.”

Thoughts?

Bunch of crap! "Bolster our relationships with our retailers . . ", yeah right! Most retailers go through one distributor. Since free shipping and other perks are based on volume purchases, having to split up purchasing through two different distributors undermines the retailers. The only people that this MIGHT benefit are Playroom and possibly ACD. Retailers, and as a result, customers will get screwed. I hope this kind of deal comes back to bite Playroom in the ass. These kinds of exclusive distribution deals just don't seem to help anyone.

this is the opposite of my experience, i've never talked to a hobby shop retailer (about distribution) that only goes through one distributor.

Out here in Colorado the majority go through Alliance. My favorite FLGS uses Alliance exclusively for most of their hobby board and card game stuff. There are other game related stuff that they get through other distributors but these are minor compared to their Alliance order. Since their order volume determines their discount rate and whether they get free shipping they'd love to order everything they could through one source but they do have to break it up a bit.

Didn't FunAgain try this when they decided that being the publisher (Gryphon Games), retailer (FunAgain) and distributor (FRED) would be a good idea?? I thought they tried doing some kind of discount limitation thing and then just decided to have their stuff go through Alliance when retailers stopped carrying their stuff.